Flood victim dad jailed for trafficking ice

Jessica Grewal
Senior Reporter APN Newsdesk NSW Bureau
Working from Sydney, Jessica specialises in crime/court reporting, filing for APN’s regional mastheads in Northern NSW as well as providing national content for the group.
She was previously Chief Reporter at the Fraser Coast Chronicle in Hervey Bay, Queensland where she grew up and trained.
Early in her career, she was named Queensland Young Journalist of the Year at the Clarion Awards.
More recently, she was finalist at the 2013 Kennedy Awards for Excellence in NSW Journalism in both the...

The court heard that despite his significant criminal history, Chalker had never served jail time.

He was on probation and bail during the trafficking period and given immediate parole for other offences late last year.

More recently, he was said to have made efforts at rehabilitation and was rebuilding his post-flood life by working as a handyman around the Laidley area and caring for his family who were in court to support him.

Justice John Byrne said Chalker needed to learn to stay away from drugs in hard times.

"When significant stressors come to your life as they did with the Grantham floods, your tendency is to take refuge in methylamphetamine." Justice Byrne said

"It is not logical - you must realise that methylamphetamine does not make your life better, it makes it worse."

"You will be in custody for some time - this will give you the opportunity to participate in programs which will assist you to live your life free from drugs."

Chalker was sentenced to a total of four years in jail. He will be eligible to apply for parole on June 16, 2018.